Tag Archives: drawing

I’m SO EXCITEDbecause I have 3 friends from the same family who are becoming CZT’s (Certified Zentangle® Teacher) today!!! It’s the last day of the 4 day CZT-31 Seminar with Maria & Rick and Zentangle staff, in Providence, Rhode Island. Two are my students and are sisters (from Alaska) and the other is their niece (from Colorado). Mary and Tina have taken numerous Zentangle® classes with me so I’m thrilled that they are really loving Zentangle. I’m also excited because Tina lives down south around Kenai and there are no CZT’s there. It’s way too far away for me to cover! It will be nice to have some CZT’s I can talk to in Alaska 🙂 When I became a CZT in 2014, there was only one CZT in the Anchorage area, but she wasn’t teaching. So I’ve had to learn and struggle on my own. I’m very fortunate that I am a member of the CZT Facebook group and have formed many lasting friendships. It’s a loving and supportive group who have helped and guided me so much! I could not have done it without them (love you Brenda)! Tomorrow my 3 friends can join me!

When I attended my CZT Seminar, it was held in Providence Hotel. Now Seminars are held at the Biltmore Hotel. I spent one night there before transferring to Providence Hotel and joined the other CZT’s (here I am looking out my window at the Biltmore Hotel).

Every CZT Seminar is special. One highlight of my Seminar-17 was when Martha’s two boys got up and taught us a tangle! They were so awesome!! I don’t even remember what the tangle was because I was watching them 🙂

At the end of Seminars, when you receive your CZT Certificate, you get to put on “the Zentangle® Graduation Cap”! Here I am with mine but it was sooooo heavy it was falling off my head and someone captured that lovely and oh so attractive moment! LOL!!

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Hi! Are you up for asummer challenge???

Zentangle® headquarters came out last year with Zentangle Project Packs 01 and 02.Maria, Rick, Molly, Nick, Martha, and Julie all participated in these wonderful series of instructional videos! They did a really great job and I’ve learned so much from them and want to share them with you!

Hi! I found this post I wrote a while back, never posted it, and so I will share it with you now, as it has been a very long time that I have talked… All my life I have been a worrier, you know…the “what ifs?”. Many times I have worried to the point of making myself sick or I’ll have a rip roaring panic attack. And depending where I am at the time, I would avoid going to those places again. At one point in my life, all the doors closed in on me and the only safe place was my home…for 4 long years! Eventually I discovered there was a name for this, it’s called Agoraphobia, an anxiety/panic disorder, which I have had all my life. In Latin it is referred to as “the fear of the market place”. Eventually I got help, which turned my life around. But I still have all the “what ifs? and negative chatter” which are ingrained in my head and sometimes still stops me from doing things or makes it very difficult.
I was first drawn to Zentangle® by the beautiful and intricate and creative abstract black and white art. And then I read, “anyone can do it!”. I didn’t believe it because I can’t draw, but I thought I’d try it, and I did it, AND it was unbelievable! I knew from that moment that I wanted to become a CZT and teach it. Zentangle has brought me so much peace and has helped with my anxiety, depression, pain, and the “what ifs and chatter” in my head. The Zentangle® Method™ is all about teaching you how to relax and focusing on drawing structured patterns (tangles). It is a stress reliever by distracting your mind so you can just live “in the moment” (mindfulness). It is the “process” I enjoy and the art is a benefit. The Zentangle® Method™ has taught me to enjoy & appreciate life and to trust my intuition, knowing that it always turns out OK.

Finding Zentangle and becoming a CZT has given my life purpose and has gotten me out of the house and back to teaching and living again (I LOVE teaching!). I have made many wonderful friends around the world and I’m so grateful! My mind now is occupied with beautiful Zentangle art and patterns I see everywhere and I’m constantly thinking of new ideas, projects, and classes!

Some of the Benefits of the Zentangle® Method™:

Stress Reliever and Promotes Relaxation

Decreases Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Depression

Pain Management

Problem Solving

Physical and Emotional Therapies

Focus and Concentration

Mindfulness-“living in the moment”

Fine Motor Skills

Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem

Personal Well-Being

Working with Children and the Elderly

PTSD

Recovery Programs

Positive Group Dynamics

NO Art Experience Required!

Is a break from Technology!

Opens the Mind to Creativity, Imagination, and Intuition!

Practicing Zentangle will help you “Release your Inner Artist”– even if you think you don’t have one!

Anyone can do it! Give it a try! You only need a piece of paper, pen, and pencil!

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Want to unwind from stress, focus your thoughts, and explore your creative side? As a CZT (Certified Zentangle® Teacher), this is what I do!

“A Therapeutic Process of Meditative Pattern Drawing” Designed for Everyone!

The Zentangle® Method™ offers a quick way to intentionally redirect your focus and allow you to enter a relaxed state, by drawing structured patterns (called tangles) while creating beautiful abstract art! Tangles are broken down into steps, making it easy for ALL ages and abilities to draw! Anyone can do it! As you combine these tangles together, you will be amazed at yourself when you discover that you are in fact an artist and you can draw and create your own beautiful and unique art!

Zentangle can change your life!

Enjoy the peacefulness and contentment of “living in the moment” (not yesterday or tomorrow)!

An easy, fun, and relaxing stress and anxiety reliever you can do anywhere!

Portable! Need only a pen, pencil, and paper!

If you can write your name, you can do Zentangle! No artistic skills needed!

Non-Technical!

No mistakes in Zentangle…only creative opportunities!

No right or wrong way!

Increases your sense of personal well-being!

Opens your mind and heart to new creativity, imagination, and intuition for people of all ages and abilities!

8-Basic Steps in the Zentangle® Method™

Gratitude and Appreciation

Corner Dots

Border

Strings

Tangle

Shade

Initial and Sign

Appreciation Again

Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas created the Zentangle® Method™ and Zentangle® INC. about 14 years ago. They offer four intense seminars a year, in Providence, Rhode Island (where they live), teaching those who want to learn all about Zentangle and become a CZT ( Certified Zentangle® Teacher). We now have about 3000 CZT’s around the world!

Maria and Rick state, “As you practice the Zentangle Method, you discover that not only can you create beautiful art, you also can increase your focus and create a different mood and state of mind. We believe that life is an art form and that our Zentangle Method is an elegant metaphor for deliberate artistry in life. This Zentangle approach is not only easy and enjoyable, but also profound and uplifting.”

Students are given the same instructions…but each Zentangle® tile is different!

So, give yourself the gift of Zentangle® art and take a class with a Certified Zentangle® Teacher!

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The Diva, Laura Harms, CZT, from Regina, Canada, has been doing a challenge every Mondayfor about 6 years now. And recently she has been doing live video podcasts on “Twitch” app, where she actually tangles a tile for Monday’s challenge. I really enjoy watching and listening to her and saying hello. I always learn something new! She is on her summer break with her family right now and she has guest challenges.

As I said previously, I have a hard time doing challenges but this week Jessica Davies, CZT is the guest for this week and she has challenged us to use a heart for a string. I LOVEhearts ❤ So….instead of tangling a tile, I tangled a rock and used Spoken tangle, by Zentangle® and Curly Q, by Diane Lachance. I LOVErocks too!!

These are some hearts I’ve tangled when I lost my beautiful kitty, Cinnamon.

Do you have favorite tangles? The ones you refer back to again and again, especially when you’re stuck and can’t think of a tangle. Your comfortable go-to tangles. Maria Thomas calls those her “mac & cheese tangles” 🙂 Some of my favorites are Poke Root, Printemps, Tipple, Flux, Hollibaugh, and Rain (created by Zentangle®). You will see these tangles in many of my tiles! I’m taking a break from classes this summer because when summer starts in Alaska, people are outside fishing, camping, hiking, traveling, gardening, etc. So this is usually the time that I put a fall class schedule together but this summer Jake and I bought a small motorhome and have been camping a lot. I’ve been away from technology and tangling is perfect when camping! All you need is an ink pen, pencil, and paper!

I admit that I don’t do well with change and so I have a hard time with structured challenges. I have to force myself to try new tangles and I tend to fall back on my “mac & cheese” tangles. But since I have time and I’m off camping, it’s the perfect time to challenge myself. I’m starting out small and doing mono tangles (one tangle) and I’ll choose different tangles that I’ve never done before! Yikes, be brave! I’ve always wanted to do Mak-Rah-Meetangle, by Michele Beauchamp, CZT. This tangle has always intrigued me because it’s so pretty and I love how it flows, but looks hard to do. But I actually found it easy when following the step out at www.tanglepatterns.com It looks similar to a craft knot like you’d find in macrame. I love fiber art! I added some Tippleand finished the border using Curly Q, by Diane Lachance, CZT. All were really FUN tangles to do! Sometimes we just need a little push…in my case, a BIG push!

So I’m challenging myself to do a new tangle every week until classes start again in Fall. Why don’t you join me!

Hi! Before today gets away from me, I want to share a FUN project we did around this time, last June 2016. As you know I work for Blaines Art Supply, and last June, many art supply representatives came up from the lower 48 to throw a “Make it & Take it” event. I set up my tent, tables, and examples of my Zentangle® coffee cups I had done at home. I was so excited!!

Blaines Art donated white coffee cups and black pens (there is a beverage bar inside the store). We were going to have a tangled cup competitionand I was ready!There were lots of other tent “stations” like alcohol inks, painting sneakers, Gelli printing plates, lots of different types of pens, watercolors, markers, and papers too to experiment with. Many of the products were on sale.

I had drawn some simple Zentangle tangles and their step outs on big pieces of paper and taped them to the side of the tent so people could follow step-by-step. I also had Zentangle books, supplies, business cards, and my up-coming classes. Everyone’s cup was sooooodifferent and creative!Some took their tangled cups home and some we displayed in the store and for the rest of the month people could vote on their favorite one! The WINNER got a goodie bag filled with awesome Zentangle suppliesso they could keep tangling!!

Even though it was a COLD day and my hands were frozen we all had a good time! Jake even took over the booth so I could go inside to warm up 🙂 I think we should do this again!

Hi! Let’s fast forward to today… I’m still living in Anchorage, Alaska, in the same house for 20 years, and I still LOVE teaching the Zentangle® Method™. I have recently finished teaching my Fall/Winter/Spring Zentangle® art classes and now my summer begins. So now that I have more time, I’ll try to catch you up on some of the fun zen-happenings!

I just returned from teaching a Zentangle Basics 101 Class at the Machetanz Art Festival, in Wasilla/Palmer, AK. This was my third year teaching there and I absolutely LOVE going there! It’s held at Mat-Su College (UAA), in the beautiful Mat-Su Valley. The campus is lovely! It’s about 1-1/2 hours away and one of the most gorgeous drives you can imagine with huge snow capped mountains everywhere you look! The people are so friendly and the life style is slower than Anchorage (more zen…I like that)! The last two years I got to teach two Zentangle classes, but due to budget cuts this year, the art festival was only one day. I felt very honored to have been asked back again! Thank you!! ♥

This year I had the most awesome group of students who were soooooo excited to learn all about Zentangle! We had a blast! It was very relaxing, as this year I prerecorded 5 hours of “zen music” on my mini-iPad and I bought a small but powerful speaker for it. It was perfect! In the “basics class” we learn the Zentangle® Method™, history of the art, language, the many benifits, and we create two beautiful Zentangle art tiles using six simple tangles. Each tangle I chose teaches something different that they will use often.

I’ve got to admit that I’m pretty spoiled as the room has a camera, computer, and TV so I can tangle right along with the students in real time! But I always have my backup easel and pad!

AND I’ve gotten the same room for three years!! It’s at the end of a long hall, hidden away so it’s very quiet and peaceful! AND I’m right next door to Rex who always helps me with the computer and equipment

When the class is done, we go around and collect all the tiles and put them together and create a big mosaic. Below is this year’s mosaic! It is truly magical to me that I give the same directions to everyone but each tile is soooo incredibly different and unique!! It’s exciting and so much fun!!

The best part of the day is when everyone hovers over the mosaic trying to find their tiles! And guess what…many can’t find them because they ALL are so beautiful and creative!! Most of the students at the beginning of class said they couldn’t draw, but as you see everyone drew beautiful art pieces and walked out as “artists”!

To see more mosaics from previous years, go to “Student Art” on my website www.tanglealaska.com I hope I’ll get to come back again next year! I LOVEteaching Zentangle®!!

Hi! I’ve recently returned from Providence, Rhode Island. I know, pretty amazing for me! Those who know me, know that sometimes I can’t even get out of my house 🙂 It happened very suddenly when I got a newsletter from zentangle.com that there were 4 open seminar spaces available…first come, first served! This was my dream, to go to seminar to become a Certified Zentangle® Teacher but I figured I would have to wait until 2015 (it’s very hard to get in!). I would be trained by the founders of Zentangle®, Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts. Well a long story shortened…I emailed but the 4 spaces were already filled and I was #15 on a waiting list. I was so disappointed to think I almost had a shot of getting in!

About two days later I get another email and I GOT IN!! That is, if I could fly to Providence, RI, and find a hotel in less than a week! The seminar is at the Providence Hotel but they were booked solid. Before I knew it I was on a plane and off to become a Certified Zentangle® Teacher! No time to think how terrifiedI was to fly and fly so far from home for 6 days. I’m talking about Alaska to Rhode Island! It took me all day to get there, starting at 3:30am (Sat)and finally got to bed at 4:00am the next day (Sun).

But I did it! I made it to Providence only to find out they did not have a room for me! Yes, NO ROOM!! I had a total meltdown (and I mean it was bad!) and was driven across town to another hotel. I had absolutely no idea where I was or who I was with. They fortunately came back to get me the next day (I was crossing my fingers that they would!). I emailed Martha (Maria’s daughter) to let her know what happened and checked into the seminar that evening. I stayed at Biltmore that night, alone and scared.

The next morning (Mon) after the morning class, Martha took me aside and said there was a vacancy at Providence Hotel and they were working on getting me over there with everyone else. OMG! I was soooooo excited, so relieved, so grateful, so exhausted!From then on I had the most FANTASTIC and AMAZING time! It was like I was living in a magical dream-world filled with beautiful tangles and warm and wonderful people. Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts and their entire Zentangle® family were unbelievably so kind and giving.

Me, Maria Thomas, and Rick Roberts

I met so many people from around the world. We had 13 countries and 22 students from Taiwan who became my friends (kneehow). I had so much fun and learned sooooo much!

When I got back, Blaines Art Store asked me to teach Zentangle® classes and I start in January 2015 (another dream come true!). I can hardly wait!!!! I am now a Certified Zentangle® Teacher!

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HI! Last summer I discovered Zentangle® which has changed my life! I came across it at www.zentangle.com and was mesmerized by the beautiful art and I knew that was something I wanted to do. I ran out and bought as many Zentangle® books as I could find. Zentangle® is an easy to learn, fun, and relaxing method of drawing repetitive structured patterns. It only requires a 3.5″ x 3.5″ white paper, 01 Micron Pen by Sukura and a pencil. No eraser because there are no mistakes in Zentangle…just opportunities for new patterns. This was my first attempt at tangling (before I took a class) 🙂

My First Zentangle

Now, I CANNOT draw but it said it’s easy and anyone can do it and so I took a beginning class from a Certified Zentangle Teacher and came out with two beautiful pieces of art that I DREW!!Yes, I can draw Zentangle Art! There were 6 students and we did 2 Zentangle® tiles each. Each tile had 4 different tangles (patterns) on it. The most fascinating thing to me was that we were each shown how to draw the same tangle BUT each of our tangles were totally different and so creative!! It was our own art we were drawing that came from our minds! Just like in life, each person’s handwriting is different. We each have different personalities. Since the first time I saw Zentangle Art I secretly wanted to become a Certified Zentangle® Teacher. I was convinced if I could draw such beautiful images, then anyone could and I wanted to share this magic!

First Zentangle class tile

Second Zentangle class tile

Beginners Tile

I recommend taking a class with your local Certified Zentangle Teacher and explore www.zentangle.com